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At least one DE voter is not impressed with Coons’ infatuation with Marxism. Tom Burgum writes in the Longboat Key News:

Her opponent, Chris Coons, has a bit of explaining to do before Nov. 2. While still young he became a self-proclaimed Marxist after visiting Kenya where, according to him, he learned America was not a very nice country. He overcame his aversion to the Untied States and ultimately became top executive of New Castle County. He was elected in 2004 and said his top priority would be to continue balancing the budget without increasing property taxes.

In 2006, Coons, despite the pledge not to raise taxes, led the charge for a 5 percent raise in property taxes. In 2007, he managed to push through a 17.5 percent raise, and in 2009 he raised property taxes another 25 percent. Coons is nothing if not inventive: He even proposed a tax on people who call 9-1-1 from their cell phones. Coons claims that his call for shared sacrifice restored New Castle to fiscal responsibility. Now, that may be a stretch because in 2009 Coons warned that the county may be headed for bankruptcy.

By all accounts Coons is no longer a Marxist. Still, his stewardship of New Castle County seems to have done for New Castle what Socialism did for Cuba.

We have all heard by now about Coons’ “bearded Marxist” coming out party. But did Coons’ infatuation with Marx end there? Apparently not, as reported by World Net Daily:

The Democrat running against Christine O’Donnell for the U.S. Senate seat from Delaware voluntarily audited a class with Marxist activist Cornel West…

…Responding to the ensuing controversy, Coons told CNN, “I am not now, nor have I ever been a Marxist or an enemy of the people of the United States.”

“I’m not a Marxist, I’ve never held Marxist ideas,” he said. “I believe strongly in the free enterprise system … .”

When he returned to the U.S., he worked for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York and audited a course by West at Union Theological Seminary…

…”I audited one class at Union Theological with Cornel West when I was at the Coalition for the Homeless in New York and realized I strongly needed and wanted some grounding in traditions and doctrines of my own faith,” he said…

…West, currently a race-relations instructor at Princeton, is an avowed Marxist and senior member at the Democrat Socialists of America…

…West served as an adviser on Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March and is a self-described personal friend of the Nation of Islam leader. West authored two books on race with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, who was at the center of a recent controversy in which Obama criticized Gates’ treatment by police outside his home after a report of a burglary…

…WND reported West introduced Obama on stage at the fundraiser after first railing against the “racist” criminal-justice system of the “American empire.”…

…From a young age, West proclaimed he admired “the sincere black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party … and the livid black (liberation) theology of James Cone.

Cone’s theology spawned Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s controversial pastor for 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ. West was a strong defender of Wright when the pastor’s extreme remarks became national news during the presidential campaign….

It seems there isn’t a tax that Coons has seen during his political career that he didn’t immediately fall in love with. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Eliminate Tax Credit for First Time Home-buyers: In 2006, Coons lobbied the General Assembly to repeal the tax credit for first time home-buyers. This would have cost the citizens of his county at least $4.2 million. (Angie Basiouny, “5 Percent Tax Increase Proposed For NCCo,” The News Journal, March 22, 2006)

Lobbied for 911 Tax, Hotel Tax, Paramedic Tax: In 2007, while New Castle County Executive, Coons planned to pile on new taxes on all three DE counties by lobbying the General Assembly to pass brand new taxes including a hotel tax, a 911 tax, and a paramedic tax. (Angie Basiouny, “Tax Hike, Deep Cuts In Store For NCCo,” The News Journal, March 17, 2007)

Delaware Swats Down Coons Tax Gouging Plan, Coons Vows to Keep Pushing Tax Hikes: The General Assembly turned down repeated requests from Coon to gouge his citizens with new 911, hotel and paramedic taxes. How does Coons respond? He says he is “undaunted…[and] working with state leaders for permission to levy new taxes or fees.” (Angie Basiouny, “Historic NCCo Budget Finally Set For Vote Tuesday,” The News Journal, May 25, 2009)

Reassess Property Values so Property Tax is Hiked Even Higher: Apparently, Coons was not satisfied with merely jacking up property taxes. He wanted a more aggressive reassessment of the property values in order to gouge his county as much as possible. (Angie Basiouny, “17 Percent Tax Hike Proposed For NCCo,” TheNews Journal, March 21, 2007)

In 2009, Coons decided it was a good idea to raise property taxes on New Castle County citizens by 25%–the largest hike in 30 years. If that wasn’t bad enough, he suggested it was the job of government to gouge the people:

Coons said those who voted against the tax increase without proposing alternatives ‘are generally not doing their jobs. They’re not serving their constituents or their community well and they’re not moving this county forward.’

The American Spectator provides more quotes from Coons regarding his Marxist roots:

“The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism…”

“Kenya provided a needed catalyst; …I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi…”

“Some of the ‘Leftists’ that I met were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that.”

“…several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and world relations with which I had grown up…and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West.”

“I came to suspect…that the ideal of America as ‘a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world’ was not exactly based on reality.”

“What do other nations think of us? Can private enterprise and democracy solve the problems of developing nations? Is Marxism an evil ideology, leading millions into totalitarian slavery? These were some of the questions in the back of my mind…”

“I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunities to be had in America might be largely untrue.”

Emmett Tyrrell JR, founder and editor of the American Spectator, writes in the Washington Timesto provide his own introduction to Chris Coons, the Bearded Marxist, and what type of man he chose to be after traveling to Kenya to be discipled by a Marxist professor:

But now Jeffrey Lord of the American Spectator has been scrutinizing her opponent, Democratic candidate Chris Coons. Mr. Lord did not have to go back to Mr. Coons’ high school days. He found quite a lot in Mr. Coons’ infatuation with Marxism, starting in college. Mr. Coons found Marx about the time that large numbers of Marxist polls behind the Iron Curtain gave him up. By the 1990s, even jailers and torturers were forsaking old Karl, but not Mr. Coons…

…Politico reports that as a 21-year-old about to graduate from Amherst, he wrote a piece in the college newspaper that was titled “Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist.” Apparently there was more to that trip to Africa than he would like voters to recall or than the Post chronicled…

…A course on the Vietnam War also caused [Coons] to “suspect … that the ideal of America as a ‘beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world’ was not exactly based in reality“…

…my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunities to be had in America were largely untrue.” He found a moral equivalence between Kenya and the United States and became a “beardless Marxist.”

My guess is that he is still a beardless Marxist. Certainly he shows no scruples about keeping his hands off other people’s property. As county executive of New Castle County, Mr. Coons promised voters he would keep taxes down. Once elected, he raised property taxes by 5 percent in 2006, by 17.5 percent in 2007 and by 25 percent in 2009. He loves taxes….

…Mr. Coons apparently did not have to appear on a clown’s show to be indiscreet. He did it in college and in his later work as a goody-goody bore.

According to Wilmington’s The New Journal, in 2004, when Chris Coons was running for County Executive, Coons’ claimed his top priority was to “continue balancing the budget without increasing property taxes.” But the county’s Chief Financial Officer soon after issued a report warning tax hikes were only a year off if spending wasn’t under control before then. Coons’ opponent in the race pointed out this report, but according to TheNew Journal, Coons’ claimed it was just “spin” for his own gain–“fear-mongering to make make the public think we have some big tax increases coming…”

Yet Coons himself admits he was less than truthful about his “no tax hike” campaign promises: he admitted that he “raised taxes more than anyone in 30 years” (via:National Journal). Coons also recently admitted his greatest vulnerability is his tax hike flip flop: “Chris Coons raised your taxes. Absolutely. Guilty as charged, your honor” (via Politico).